Improvement in revolving-cylinder engines



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

@HAS F. R-USET, OF COMMUNIPAVV, NEW JERSEYl` IMPROVEMENT IN REVOLVING-CYLINDER ENGINES.

Spccilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,891, dated October' 16, 1865.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. RUSET, of

-Oommunipaw, in the county of Hudson and My improvementhas reference to that class of engines propelled by steam or other vapor, gas, or iluids, which, while they may be ineluded in the category of rotary engines, employ, in connection with au outside wheel or drum, a piston or pistons reciprocating in close cylinders within said drum, and constituting, with their appurtenances, engines of themselves, that serve by their action to revolve the drum and be rotated by or with it, and my invention consists in connecting' the pistons of the cylinders which are carried by the drum to crank-shafts arranged parallel with the stationary center shaft on which the drum rotates, and carrying planet-wheels that mesh into a fixed sun-wheel or circular rack on the stationary shaft, the drinn, cylinders with their pistons, cran i-shafts, and planet-wheels being all revolved together round the sunwheel as a fulcrum by the rotation of the planet-wheels through the agency of the pistons and their crank-shafts.

For the information of others whom it may concern, I will now proceed to describe myinvention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- A is a stationary center shaft, supported by standards B on or from a suitable foundationplate. This stationary shaft may be solid for an intermediate portion of its length, but is otherwise formed hollow by passages a a on either side of said solid portion, and which hollow extensions constitute the inlet and exhaust pipes ofthe engine. Hung so as to freely rotate on this stationary shaft A is a drum or wheel, O, made with hollow bosses b b', that encompass apertures c c opening|` into the passages c a, and that are connected by arms d with the outer ring of the drum. Said bosses should beV provided with suitable packingrings or stuffing-boxes, or both, where they form end joints with or on the stationary shaft A, topreserve a steain'tight junction therewith as they rotate around it. Carried by the arms d, and preferably close up to the outer ring of the drinn, are, say, two or more steamcylinders, D, arranged radially to the drum, and which may either be rigidly secured to the arms d, or be hung by trunnions e therein, so as lto admit of them having an oscillating character, as well as a rotary one in common with the drum. An oscillating attachment,

however, of said cylinders is preferred, as enabling the rods of the pistons which work inJ the cylinders to be directly connected with the cranks they serve to drive, and as enabling the valves of said cylinders to be worked by a simple motion, as hereinafter explained.

Pistons E, having an ordinary reciprocating motion, are arranged within the' cylinders D, and have the outer ends of their rods F connected with cranks j', of or on shafts G, hung so as to freely rotate in the arms d, and lying parallel to the stationary shaf't A. It is desirable that the cranks fshould be pitched one at half and the other at qua-rter stroke, where only two cylinders and pistons are used, to facilitate their passing the dead-centers and render more uniform the general power of the engine, the valves and pistons being arranged accordingly.

O11 the shafts G are secured spur or planet wheels H, which mesh into a circular rack, or, as it is sometimes termed, sun-wheel 7 I, rmly secured to the stationary shaft A, and round which the wheels II revolve as they are rotated by the action of the cranks and their pistons, producing what is known as a sunand-planet 1notion,7 and eausi n g the drinn and engines connected with it all to be revolved together round the stationary shaft A and fixed sun-wheel I as a fulcruni and common center. The drum C being thus rotated may either' be directly applied to any useful purpose it is adapted, or, by means ot' a belt, gear, or other means, power be transmitted from it to any machinery it is designed to drive. Said drum may either be left open, or covered, or boxed in at its sides.

As the requisite valve action is no special part of my present invention, and as in the adoption of oscillating cylinders revolving round a common axis an automatic valve ac tion has before been used, it Will be sufficient hereto state that steam is or maybe conveyed through the trunnions on one side of the cylinders to the steam and valve chests g by pipes h, connecting with onehollow boss, 7), that encompasses the inlets c of the steam-pipe a, with boxes j on the outside ot' the inlet-cylin der trunnions,wl1ile the exhaust-steam may be similarly passed oft' by the trunnions on the opposite side of the cylinders, boxes j', pipes h', hollow boss b', passages c', and exhaustpipe c; or these pipes and passages on opposite sides ot' the cylinders may be reversed as inlets and outlets by, either permanently, or, through suitable mechanism, only temporarily, for the purpose `of rotating the drum in an opposite direction, converting the steanrpipe a into the exhaust and the exhaust-a into the steam-pipe. A

The valves V themselves may be of the vibrating description,- and connected -with a rock-shaft, 7a, that, by means of outside slotted arms l attached thereto and pins myconneeted with the drum-arms, serve, by the oscillating motion of the cylinders, to rock or shift said valves in such manner as to alter- Anately establish communication between the steam and valve chests g that are connected with the steam-pipes h and exhaust-passages s, which are connected with the exhaust-pipes h. Anyother suitable val ve motion and gear, however, may be adopted to suit the charac ter ot' engines employed, or otherwise.

By varying the relative diameters of the sun and planet Wheels I and H H a quicker or slower velocity of the drums relatively to the engines, or number of revolutions of the drum as compared with the engineshafts G, may be obtained. rThese Wheels may, if desired, be duplicated or repeated on opposite sides or ends ofthe crank-shafts G and solid or intermediate portion of the stationary shaft A. The drinn and engines carried by it, when combined, constitute an engine of rotary character.

Having now described my improvement, what l claim as new and useful therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the Wheel or drum C, arranged to rotate on suitable bearings, en gines carried by said drum, with their revolving shafts Gr hung therein, and arranged relatively to the driving-axis as described, planetwheels H, and stationary circular rack or sun Wheel I, substantially as shown and described.

GH. F. RUSET.

Witnesses:

A. LECLERC, HENRY 'l". BROWN. 

